In part two of this week’s Neepawa Town Council Meeting we cover issues around recycling and cybersecurity, and the advantages of having post-secondary facilities in town. As we head into the Christmas holiday, there are no updates from the Operations department.

CAO Colleen Synchyshyn shares correspondence from the Beautiful Plains Community Foundation that says that they will continue with their farming project in the industrial park even though, as lots are purchased, there is less land to work with. This is a project started in 2021 that uses donated labour and equipment to harvest and sell agricultural product from the town’s vacant land to fundraise for the Foundation.

A big topic at this week’s meeting was around recycling. The town receives money from Multi-Material Stewardship based on the tonnage of recyclable material produced by the town. The town is seeing a small increase over last year, but based on the increase in population the town has seen, one would expect a larger financial increase. The difference is due to contaminated loads of recycling. Not only does the town not receive any funds for contaminated loads, but they are charged for rejected loads of recyclables. In November alone, 27 tons of recyclables were rejected, resulting in a charge of $5300. Even a single contaminated household load can ruin an entire truckload, so please be diligent about recycling and refer to the Recyclepedia at simplyrecycle.ca/recyclepedia/ when you are unsure. Not only is it good for the environment but there is a clear economic impact on the community.

The town passed their Interim Operating Budget at this meeting, detailing all of the provisional estimates for the budget. This is passed annually to allow the town to continue to operate and cover expenses between the first of the new year and when they officially pass the 2024 budget later in the spring.

Council was readily prepared to upgrade their cybersecurity with their current provider, and also incur a one-time fee to add a new firewall to the water plant. Around the province, there have been numerous incidents of proven or suspected cyberattacks resulting in losses for the municipalities, and Council is choosing to take no chances.

Several members of Council attended the presentation of the Active Transportation Study by students from the University of Manitoba. The presentation covered the results of their extensive consultation with town residents, particularly from the older adult population, and recommendations on how the town could be made more age friendly to allow for ageing in place. In order to be designated an age-friendly community provincially, a Council member would need to be assigned to that committee and report back to Council on results and recommendations.

A couple of town property sales were also on the agenda. The first was down on the former CN property, where the town still owned a couple of slivers of property that the developer needed in order to proceed with construction of new duplexes. As well, a business was looking to purchase a piece of property in the industrial park, situated between two existing developments. Both were approved. Council indicated they might have some interest in preserving one undeveloped end of the Industrial Park for an as-yet-undisclosed purpose.

Council also unanimously passed the variation application that was the subject of differing viewpoints in the first half of the meeting, based on the information provided by and the recommendation of the planning department.

Renovation is complete on the old RCMP building and Assiniboine Community College has started to move in, in emancipation of starting classes on January 8. Council approved the 18-month lease agreement for the program, but also discussed the benefits of having the facility in general for purposes beyond the initial LPN program. Post-secondary training facilities are scarce in rural Manitoba and there is a huge benefit to families to be able to access post-secondary programs closer to home.

Also covered were the financial reports, the upcoming Chamber of Commerce AGM on January 29, and selecting a vendor for Phase 2 of the water and sewer infrastructure project.